'Transformers' to complete movie shoot next week

Tuesday

Jul 2, 2013 at 6:01 PMJul 2, 2013 at 6:06 PM

By Dennis PelhamDaily Telegram Staff Writer

Optimus Prime and other "Transformers" characters are to return to M-52 next week. But they cannot save their fans from parking tickets if they again clog Weston Road while trying to get a look at the action.

Paramount Pictures officials have asked to close a two-mile section of the state highway on Monday and Tuesday, July 8 and 9, to complete production work started Friday on "Transformers 4."

The road closure could be shifted to later in the week if weather problems that prevented shooting most of last week develop again, said Kari Arend of the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The National Weather Service in Detroit predicted cloudy skies with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for Monday.

Traffic became a problem Friday when M-52 was closed and the detour route on Weston Road was clogged with vehicles partially in the roadway, said Jason Schnaidt, operations manager for the Lenawee County Road Commission.

"No parking" signs will be posted on Weston Road next week to keep movie fans from creating a hazard and interfering with traffic flow, said Schnaidt.

Sheriff's deputies will be in the area with ticket books to enforce the temporary no parking zone, said Lenawee County Undersheriff James Anderson.

"It's a big event and a lot of people are excited about it," Anderson said. But the movie crew is doing its work out of view from the detour route, he said.

Anderson said he visited the traffic control point at M-52 and Weston Road on Friday. He was unable to see what was being filmed.

"I really couldn't," he said.

Fans trying to get a look at the production work was the only complaint Paramount officials had when they were able to film Friday, said Curtis Emmons, Fairfield Township supervisor.

Wheat fields in the area of the movie shoot are still too green to harvest, he said. Paramount chose the location for that background. The harvest will not wait much longer than next week, however, Emmons said.

Photographs and video clips from Friday's production work are posted at several Internet sites, including Transformers Live Action Movie Blog and on YouTube.